On my first morning in Bruges, I set off at just past 7:00 am to walk to the center of the old city. I soon came upon the enormous 115.6m high tower of the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady. Construction of the Gothic church began in the 13th century and was completed in the 15th century. The brickwork tower is the second highest such structure in Europe (or the third, depending on which source one chooses to believe). Whether second or third, the massive tower dominates its surroundings.
Bruges is a small Belgian city of about 120,000 people located on the North Sea in the northwest of the country near the Dutch border. The center of Bruges is part of a sizeable UNESCO World Heritage Site of some 430 hectares. My plan was to walk from my hotel near the southern end of the oval-shaped Site to the Markt or Market Square, about 1 kilometer away in the heart of historic old Bruges.
The Belfry of Bruges is the centerpiece of the Market Square. The tower, a mere 83 meters high was built in 1240, but has been damaged by fire and repaired several times since then.
I will have more about Bruges in the days to come.
On its website, Zaanse Schans urges tourists to “experience historic Holland” by visiting “this windmill village on the Zaan River … just 20 minutes from Amsterdam.” Friends whom I visited in Amsterdam recommended Zaanse Schans, so I boarded a public bus at Centraal Station early on a cloudless, sunny morning and headed for the village.
The ride took a bit longer than 20 minutes, but that was because I boarded a bus that did not go all the way to my destination, and had to change to a second bus midway in the ride. The trip was interesting as it gave me a chance to see some of Amsterdam away from the renowned historical center of the city. Unfortunately, during the trip, clouds rolled in and quickly hid the sun. Patches of blue remained, but the ominous gray clouds were accompanied by a blustery, rather chilly wind and a definite threat of rain. With no umbrella and a windbreaker that would not keep me dry in anything more than a light drizzle, I set off rather nervously from the bus stop on my walk to and around Zaanse Schans.
The village is beautiful, and the old windmills and other examples of traditional architecture are fascinating to look at up close. That said, the area has something of the feel of a village “manufactured” for tourists, of the sort you can see near, for instance, Sapa in northern Vietnam. In fact in an effort to preserve examples of historical Dutch architecture and construction, the homes, shops and some of the windmills (two are in their original locations) that make up Zaanse Shanse were moved from other parts of northern Holland to create the village. This preservation effort occurred in the 1960s and 70s, and eventually the protected area that makes up Zaanse Schans was developed into a tourist destination that nowadays attracts more than two million visitors per year. Some of the buildings are occupied by shops catering to tourists, and there are tours of windmills and a cheese making workshop. The homes in the village are, however, occupied by residents and not open to visitors.
I walked around exploring and taking photos of the relatively small area for about an hour and a half. I even saw a man in yellow wooden shoes. He went through a door too quickly for me to get a photo, but not fast enough to prevent me from wondering why anyone would walk around in footwear that looks so uncomfortable.
When I began my walk just before 8:30, there were still not many visitors and the places offering tours were not open. I had planned to look inside a windmill and visit the Zaanse Schans museum next to the village before heading back to Amsterdam. In the end I went into a cheese making workshop, but that was it. Once inside I did not pay much attention the cheese making process, instead spending my time eying the huge wheels of Gouda and trying to convince myself I could fit one in my carry-on suitcase for the trip home. Keep in mind, that carry-on was my only suitcase for the three and a half week trip; I learned long ago to travel light. Be that as it may, reason prevailed and I did not return home with several thousand calories of cheese that my waist line absolutely does not need.
As for going in to a windmill or the Zaanse Schans museum, it turned out I was still subject to a fickle weather day. When I first arrived there was a gray, threatening sky and blustery wind, which gave way to warm sunshine and puffy white clouds, then finally to more clouds and the threat of rain again around 10:00. Unprepared for rain as I was, I decided not to take a chance, and headed to the bus stop and a bus back to Centraal and lunch. It did finally rain for awhile in the late afternoon of that day, and I did get a little wet before escaping to my hotel room. But, all in all, it was an excellent travel day.
I was walking, day dreaming, along a narrow, bricked, rather non-descript Amsterdam street when I looked up and saw Chinese characters on the wall of a building. I was disoriented for a moment wondering what this place was doing in the middle of Amsterdam, realizing seconds later that I had walked into Amsterdam’s Chinatown.
In fact the name Chinatown is something of a misnomer, as this small area contains restaurants serving all kinds of East and Southeast Asian cuisines. My quick, very unscientific survey suggested there were more Ramen shops that anything else. There may have been some Asian markets as well, though to be honest the only shop I noticed was dishing up snacks laced with cannabis. My pot days are very long gone at this point, though I did try edibles a couple of times in the past. They put me to sleep.
I was not tempted to eat anything in Chinatown. Or Asiatown, call it what you will. Prices are crazy and the food served up is generally not nearly as good as what I get closer to home for a fraction of the price.
I booked a ticket online to visit Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum at 9:00 am on 9 June, my first full day in Amsterdam. The museum was a couple of clicks from my hotel along the Singel canal, so I set out around 7:00 to walk on a beautiful Tuesday morning.
About half way to the museum I was nearing the point where I would turn off the Singel when I came across the Roman Catholic De Krijtberg Church. The Neo-Gothic church with its two towers dominates this stretch of the canal. There has been a church on this site since 1654; the building pictured here, formally named the Church of Saint Francis Xavier, was opened in 1881.
One of Amsterdam’s landmark buildings, the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Nicholas sits across from the city’s central train station in the oldest part of Amsterdam.
The 16th century Hans Tausen’s House was part of the residence of bishops seated at the Ribe Cathedral. It is located in the village square facing the cathedral.
Hans Tausen, bishop of Ribe from 1542 to 1561, was a well-known reformer in the Lutheran church. He translated the Bible into Danish.
Tivoli’s Chinese pagoda and a roller coaster loop that turns people on their heads.
On the Vietnam Airlines flight to Denmark, I sat next to a Swedish man returning to Stockholm via Copenhagen from a business trip to Vietnam. We got into a rambling conversation ranging from his involvement with a startup business that recycles discarded pieces of synthetic fabrics that are cut away in the production of garments to life in Vietnam, the decline of the United States in the hands of malevolent fascists, to things to do in Copenhagen.
The company he works for has been created around some useful ideas, a reminder to me that there are literally thousands of niches in our mass consumption, growth-is-always-good global economy for businesses with ideas that make life on earth a bit less wasteful and a bit more sustainable.
But his thoughts on things to see in Copenhagen were of more immediate value to me. Among other places, he recommended I visit Tivoli which, as I understood his brief description, not entirely accurately as it turned out, was a beautiful space enclosing an amusement park.
No rides for me. I’m headed for a table and an icy cocktail in a tall glass.
On my second day in Copenhagen I set out around 7:00 am and walked over to Tivoli Gardens only to find the place would not open until 11:00, and when it did, I would need a ticket costing around $23 to go in. I returned late afternoon on my third day, and after buying my ticket and entering the Gardens, I discovered that Tivoli is indeed a beautiful place which features far more than an amusement park that requires a fee to enter. In addition to more than two dozen amusement rides inside the park (each of which requires the purchase of another ticket), Tivoli Gardens also has: a wide variety of restaurants and eateries within, ranging from several restaurants with Michelin stars to a food court serving different kinds of street foods; replicas of a Chinese pagoda (that looks more Japanese to me) and a Moorish palace; regular music, theatre and dance performances, as well as events for kids; and a very pricey five star hotel on the grounds if you are interested in spending a night or two.
When you’ve had enough walking, there’s plenty of places for a drink or a meal.
A ticket to enter the park, plus a few rides, and then drinks and dinner, an outing to Tivoli can turn into an expensive day in no time, especially for a family. Though there are various ticket deals varied to what people want to do during their visits. And there is an annual pass ticket for locals who are likely to visit Tivoli several times during the year.
The five-star Nimb Hotel is inside the Moorish palace.
As for me I spent a couple of hours walking around on a beautifully sunny and warm early June afternoon soaking in the sights and the ambience. I came across a gathering of people watching a broadcast on a huge outdoor screen. I stopped to listen to the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, a 40ish woman named Sisse Marie Welling of the Green Left party, talking with a hot shot from Michelin about Copenhagen’s efforts to turn itself into the foodie capital of Europe. Sure. Why not?
While the city’s goal did little to inspire, it did get me thinking about having a proper dinner at one of the many restaurants in Tivoli Gardens. After spending some time reading restaurant reviews, I ended up in a place called Paafuglen that serves Danish cuisine. I did the works: an aperitif, first course of seasonal white asparagus in a creamy sauce, a main of baked haddock with new potatoes and washed down with a bottle of piss elegant sparkling water, ice cream for dessert, and finally coffee. It was a delicious, memorable dinner, the service was impeccable, and it was not cheap.
Tivoli Gardens, a unique, delightful place that was absolutely worth the price of admission.
The old town hall of Ribe pictured in part here is in the center of the old village near the town square and Ribe Cathedral. The original town hall on this site was built in 1496, though it is not clear to me whether the building pictured here is the original structure or a newer one. Today the old town hall houses a museum that I did not visit and occasionally hosts local weddings.
Mostly I like the colors and textures in this image: the wall with old and new red brickwork, the wooden door with its wrought iron decorations, granite foundation stones of grays and browns, and cobblestones in the foreground. The street light in front of the building casts a shadow giving the image depth.
The iconic – or cliche – it’s your choice – photo of Copenhagen invariably shows a row colorful buildings along the Nyhavn. I had always assumed that Nyhvan was a Copenhagen neighborhood featuring a lot of colorful architecture. As usual, on this trip, I did not do enough homework about the places I would visit before showing up at the scene. In fact Nyhvan is a canal commissioned by the Danish King Christian V and completed in 1675. The Nyhvan let ships unload trade goods and fish in Kongens Nytrov (Kings Square), an area at the end of the canal also developed by Christian V, who did a great deal to expand Copenhagen during his reign. In any event, it is only the roughly 300m waterfront of the Nyhvan Canal that is lined with colored buildings and this appears to be the only place such buildings are to be found in Copenhagen.
Over time, as ocean-going ships became larger, only smaller ships engaged in local trade came into the canal. By the mid-20th century even this trade had declined and there were no ships visiting Nyhavn. Efforts to revitalize the canal began in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, in addition to traditional buildings of many colors, there are several old sailing vessels moored to the piers along the waterway. The entire Nyhavn canal area serves as a sort of outdoor museum for Copenhagen.
My own Nyhavn colorful buildings cliche photo was taken on a gray, overcast morning; the light was very flat. If I had been paying more attention to content and less to exposure and color in the flat light, I probably would have chosen a group of buildings that did not include a Chinese restaurant. The place seems a little incongruous in a photo that is supposed to be representative of traditional Copenhagen.
I took the photo below with my back to the buildings in the photo above. It shows some of the sailing ships docked in the canal, and gives more sense of the overall look of the Nyhavn area. This was taken on the day after my first visit to Nyhavn. I stopped briefly on my way to another part of Copenhagen to get a photo of the old boats docked along the canal. The morning offered up some hazy sunlight that gives the entire scene a bit of a glow.
Belgium just happens to be on my mind right about now, so I decided to take a break from Denmark and the Danes today.
Bruges was the first city in northern Europe visited by merchant vessels from Genoa in the 13th century, becoming the endpoint of seaborne trade going through the Straits of Gibraltar, along the eastern Atlantic coastline, and through the English Channel to the low countries in the north. Today much of the center of old Bruges is a beautifully preserved UNESCO World Heritage site drawing tourists from all over Europe. The Belfry, visible from everywhere in the old city, stands in the Grote Markt in the center of Bruges.
As for Belgium being on my mind, I just finished watching that country’s national team defeat the US team 4 to 1 in a World Cup football match. While I sympathize with the US players who now have to come to terms with being beaten and knocked out of the World Cup competition, I can’t say I am put out or upset that the US lost. Given the performance of the garbage representing our country right now, the US does not deserve to win any accolades these days. It is as simple as that.
Belgium moves on to a Quarterfinal match with Spain on 11 July.
